Plot and Main Characters - “Everyday Use”
In “Everyday Use” a black woman named Dee is going back to her childhood home to visit her sister and elderly mother. They have not seen each other for several years. As a child Dee was not happy with the way her family lived. She seemed to be embarrassed by them. Dee was well educated, confident, and she always seemed to get what she wanted. Her sister Maggie was exactly the opposite. She had been severely burned as a child when their house burned to the ground. From that time on Maggie had low self-esteem, lacked self-confidence, and became very shy. She was blind in one eye as a result of the fire. This made it very difficult for her to learn. Their mother enjoyed what might be considered man’s work more than housework. Therefore, their house was not very appealing to the eye. She was large in stature and the work she enjoyed showed on her hands.
Protagonist Assignment
In “Everyday Use” the mother is the protagonist. She loves her daughters very much and tries to show it the best way she knows how. She definitely realizes both of them have completely different personalities which is hard to deal with sometimes. In this story, one of her daughters, Dee is coming home to visit after being gone for several years. The other daughter, Maggie, lives with her mother and takes care of her. When Dee arrives she is wearing flashy clothes and speaking what her mother and sister considered to be “fancy talk”. As a child, Dee had never seemed to like the house she lived in or her family. She had acted as if she wished they lived somewhere else and they were someone else. She never seemed to appreciate their heritage. But now as she arrives at her childhood home, she is flashing pictures of her mother, sister, and the house. This seems strange to her mother because she always hated the house. After their brief welcome outside, the family went into the house. Dee ate the traditional foods her family had always made and commented about how beautiful a set of benches were that her uncle had handmade many years before. Then she remembered the butter churn and a dashed her uncle had also made by hand. Dee told her mother she wanted it. Dee talked about how she could use the churn in her home as a centerpiece on a table. Her mother never said yes, Dee just started packing it up. Her mother felt as if she really couldn’t do anything about it because Dee had always gotten what she wanted, so she let Dee take it. However, this changed when Dee asked her mother for two particular quilts. These quilts had been handmade by Dee’s mother and her aunt out of scraps from her relative’s clothes. Dee’s mother told her no she could not have those particular quilts because they had been promised to Maggie when she got married. Dee insisted on the quilts because she said they were priceless and Maggie would not display them properly. She would just use them everyday on her beds and they would be ruined within a few years. Maggie heard the conversation between Dee and their mother. Maggie may not have been very smart, but she took the time to learn things from her family and quilting was one of them. She told her mother Dee could take the quilts because she could make more. Maggie knew she didn’t need the quilts to help her remember her grandmother. This is when mother realized she needed to do something to stand up for her daughter. Maggie had been the one who always valued her family and her heritage. Dee was the one who had the problem with it. So mother took the quilts from Dee and gave them to Maggie. By taking the quilts from Dee, mother revealed she was proud of Maggie, where she lived, and her heritage. Mother proved she was proud to live her heritage and not just display it like Dee wanted to do.
In “Everyday Use” a black woman named Dee is going back to her childhood home to visit her sister and elderly mother. They have not seen each other for several years. As a child Dee was not happy with the way her family lived. She seemed to be embarrassed by them. Dee was well educated, confident, and she always seemed to get what she wanted. Her sister Maggie was exactly the opposite. She had been severely burned as a child when their house burned to the ground. From that time on Maggie had low self-esteem, lacked self-confidence, and became very shy. She was blind in one eye as a result of the fire. This made it very difficult for her to learn. Their mother enjoyed what might be considered man’s work more than housework. Therefore, their house was not very appealing to the eye. She was large in stature and the work she enjoyed showed on her hands.
Protagonist Assignment
In “Everyday Use” the mother is the protagonist. She loves her daughters very much and tries to show it the best way she knows how. She definitely realizes both of them have completely different personalities which is hard to deal with sometimes. In this story, one of her daughters, Dee is coming home to visit after being gone for several years. The other daughter, Maggie, lives with her mother and takes care of her. When Dee arrives she is wearing flashy clothes and speaking what her mother and sister considered to be “fancy talk”. As a child, Dee had never seemed to like the house she lived in or her family. She had acted as if she wished they lived somewhere else and they were someone else. She never seemed to appreciate their heritage. But now as she arrives at her childhood home, she is flashing pictures of her mother, sister, and the house. This seems strange to her mother because she always hated the house. After their brief welcome outside, the family went into the house. Dee ate the traditional foods her family had always made and commented about how beautiful a set of benches were that her uncle had handmade many years before. Then she remembered the butter churn and a dashed her uncle had also made by hand. Dee told her mother she wanted it. Dee talked about how she could use the churn in her home as a centerpiece on a table. Her mother never said yes, Dee just started packing it up. Her mother felt as if she really couldn’t do anything about it because Dee had always gotten what she wanted, so she let Dee take it. However, this changed when Dee asked her mother for two particular quilts. These quilts had been handmade by Dee’s mother and her aunt out of scraps from her relative’s clothes. Dee’s mother told her no she could not have those particular quilts because they had been promised to Maggie when she got married. Dee insisted on the quilts because she said they were priceless and Maggie would not display them properly. She would just use them everyday on her beds and they would be ruined within a few years. Maggie heard the conversation between Dee and their mother. Maggie may not have been very smart, but she took the time to learn things from her family and quilting was one of them. She told her mother Dee could take the quilts because she could make more. Maggie knew she didn’t need the quilts to help her remember her grandmother. This is when mother realized she needed to do something to stand up for her daughter. Maggie had been the one who always valued her family and her heritage. Dee was the one who had the problem with it. So mother took the quilts from Dee and gave them to Maggie. By taking the quilts from Dee, mother revealed she was proud of Maggie, where she lived, and her heritage. Mother proved she was proud to live her heritage and not just display it like Dee wanted to do.